Pro-life Congressman Michael Burgess is supporting a bill that would ban abortion 20 weeks after conception, but his reason is not exactly considered conventional.
Burgess claims he witnessed male fetuses as young as 20 weeks with "their hand between their legs," apparently pleasuring themselves, which is why he supports the bill.
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The Republican Representative from Texas, a former OB/GYN, gave the unusual example on Monday before the House Rules Committee as part of his argument that babies in the womb feel pain and pleasure relatively early on in the pregnancy and therefore should not be aborted.
"There is no question in my mind that a baby at 20 weeks after conception can feel pain. The fact of the matter is I argue with the chairman because I thought the date was far too late. We should be setting this at 15 weeks, 16 weeks," Burgess said.
"Watch a sonogram of a 15-week baby, and they have movements that are purposeful," the Congressman added. "They stroke their face. If they're a male baby, they may have their hand between their legs. If they feel pleasure, why is it so hard to think that they could feel pain?"
The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which the House passed 228-196 on Tuesday, is not expected to be approved by the Senate, nor the president if it reaches his desk.
President Barack
Obama has been a staunch supporter of pro-choice groups since he was an Illinois State Senator.
"You’ve got a president who is going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way.
Thank you, Planned Parenthood. God bless you. God bless America," Obama said in April at the national Planned Parenthood conference.
The bill, which is divided along party lines, was described as the "
most significant piece of pro-life legislation to come before the House since the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act," by National Right to Life Committee legislative director Douglas Johnson, according to Time.com.
In contrast, top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Michigan Rep. John Conyers, said the bill is "clearly is an attack on women's constitutional right to choose and is one of the most far-reaching bans on abortion this committee has ever considered."
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